Forum on Housing and the Mobile Workforce – The Labrador West Experience Municipalities of Newfoundland and Labrador LABRADOR CITY
• Incorporated in 1961 • First elected Council in 1981 • Well engineered community that was designed and built by the local mining company • Layout in accordance with principles of good land-use planning • Has all the amenities of other urban regions in the province Where we are and how to get there
• Airline service by 2 major carriers to Wabush Airport • 570 km by road from Baie- Comeau,QC • 1,200 km by road from south coast of Labrador • 415 km by rail from Sept-Iles, QC (year round port) • Iron Ore Capital of Canada. • Our slogan is "Built on Industry -- Thriving in Nature“. • We are extremely proud of our mining heritage and yet we are so much more! • A vibrant community with good recreational programs and facilities, majestic scenery, hunting, fishing and snowmobile adventures are just some of the many attractions.
Impacts on Labrador West
• Labrador City is surrounded by major iron ore deposits making available land for industrial and residential development an issue • Little to no advance indication of demand for housing & other needs • Necessary to permit development of temporary accommodations to house demand for construction workforce • Significant increase in demand for supply and service sector • Increase in demand on all municipal infrastructure and services. The new Boom of 2009-2014
• Virtually no new housing starts for 25 years prior 2007 • New residential development introduced 350+ new dwelling units (2007-2014) • Two new motels opened in 2011/2012 • One surplus school converted to an apartment complex and another for office use • New 52 unit apartment building constructed • Approximately 1,000 temporary accommodation units erected (pre-fab modular construction) Residential Developments Temporary Worker Accommodations $25,000 - $1200 house $1200 - $549,000 rental - same homes sell for $325,000 for sellhomes same – 2010 1,200, aptbedroom 1 i.e. bedroom $1,000 per now rates month! $5,000 rental house and $2,000 2 bedroom now selling homes foreclosed, homes of 2016hundreds $700 decreased 200,00, rents thanless Hundreds of homes vacant for approx. 8 yrs. 8 approx. for vacant homes of Hundreds $5,000 for companies and banks sold by Homes untilrents apartment affordable and homes Affordable 2005 Last big Bust 1982 Bustbig Last Boom Bust Cycle Bust Boom
Town of Labrador City Affordable Housing
• “Affordable” housing is a relatively new phenomenon ▫ Prior to 2008 some of the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing units were sold due to high vacancy rates • The municipality found themselves in unfamiliar territory • Demand for housing in general is greater than supply • What is affordable? ▫ Definition of affordable in Labrador West is different than the rest of the province • What do we do? Municipality and Affordable Housing
• The economy has historically been cyclical ▫ Developers have been risk adverse • The municipality has been working with developers to find solutions to close the gap on housing in general ▫ 294 units have been developed since 2006 ▫ Applications and agreements are in place for an additional 575 units • The municipality has been working with stakeholders: ▫ Formation of the Labrador West Housing and Homelessness Coalition ▫ The municipality is an active member ▫ Short and long term focus Progress….. • First Habitat build in Labrador • Two families selected • Plans for Habitat build next summer
• Submission to NLH for funding for affordable housing project • Funding was secured for a Housing Support Worker post completion of Community Plan
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Town of Labrador City